ukndoit has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I cannot get this to work to save my life...

I created a cron job to run every night and process autoship orders.
Here is a partial sample of my code:
my $_todayIs = Format_Date_For_Viewing(time(),"day_only");
my $sth = $dbh->prepare(qq{SELECT * FROM `autoship_orders` WHERE `day`
+ = ?});
$sth->execute($_todayIs);
my $_cnt = 0;
my $_suc = 0;
my $_fai = 0;
while(my $_sao = $sth->fetchrow_hashref()) {
    $_cnt++;
    my %_billingInfo = ();
    my $sth2 = $dbh->prepare(qq{SELECT * FROM `secured_data` WHERE `si
+d` = ? AND `Id` = ?});
    $sth2->execute($_sao->{sid},$_sao->{Id});
    my $_sd = $sth2->fetchrow_hashref();
    $sth2->finish();
    $sth2 = $dbh->prepare(qq{SELECT * FROM `reg_members` WHERE `Id` = 
+?});
    $sth2->execute($_sao->{Id});
    my $_regmem = $sth2->fetchrow_hashref();
    $sth2->finish();
    # Get Secure Data
    my $_billing = $_sd->{p11};
    $_billing = decryptdata($_billing,$_encryptionKey);
    $_billing = decrypt($_billing);
    # Bunch of other code.... decryption ........
    my @_billingData = split(/;/, $_billing);
    ($_billingFname,$_billingLname) = split / /, $_billingData[0], 2;
    $_billingInfo{fname} = $_billingFname;
    $_billingInfo{lname} = $_billingLname;
    $_billingInfo{address} = $_billingData[1];
    # other code setting some other hash keys in %_billingInfo
    my $_cardCharged = chargeCard(\%_billingInfo);
# That is what I have passed
# Here is my chargeCard sub (top of it anyways):
sub chargeCard {
    %_billingInfo = shift;

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Anyhow, I created code to debug it, like this:
my $_debug = 1;
open(BUG,">>/home/path/to/file") if $_debug;
seek(BUG, 0, 2) if $_debug;
print BUG qq~Started debugging at line: ~ . __LINE__ . "\n" if $_debug
+;

    if($_debug) {
        foreach my $key (keys (%_billingInfo)) {
            print BUG escapeHTML ($key) . " = " . escapeHTML ($_billin
+gInfo{$key}) . "\n";
        }
    }

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Now in the while statement readin the database, where I create it, it does print all the keys in the text file, but where I pass it, there is nothing. I have passed it these ways, all to no avail:


    my $_cardCharged = chargeCard($_billingInfo);

sub chargeCard {
    %_billingInfo = shift;

# AND

    my $_cardCharged = chargeCard(\$_billingInfo);

sub chargeCard {
    %_billingInfo = shift;

# AND
    my $_cardCharged = chargeCard(%_billingInfo);

sub chargeCard {
    %_billingInfo = shift;

# AND

    my $_cardCharged = chargeCard(\%_billingInfo);

sub chargeCard {
    %_billingInfo = shift;

# AND every other way I can think of...

[download]
I am getting so frustrated, I cannot fingure out what I'm doing wrong. I pass hash's all the time, but I cannot get this to work to save my life. I'd appreciate any help you can be.

Thank you very much Richard

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: passing hash to subroutine
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 14, 2007 at 16:17 UTC

    The only thing that can be passed to a function is a list of scalars. Solutions:

    • You could pass a reference to the hash and use that: 

      sub dump_hash {
   my ($hash) = @_;
   foreach my $key (keys %$hash) {
      print $key, '=>', $hash->{$key}, "\n";
   }
}

dump_hash(\%hash);

      [download]

    • You could convert the hash to a list, then recreate the hash: 

      sub dump_hash {
   my %hash = @_;
   foreach my $key (keys %hash) {
      print $key, '=>', $hash{$key}, "\n";
   }
}

dump_hash(%hash);

      [download]
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Re: passing hash to subroutine
by derby (Abbot) on Sep 14, 2007 at 16:20 UTC

    You're kinda mixing up pass by value and pass by reference. If you want to pass by value, then</strike

    In the method being invoked, you need to capture all the passed values, not just the the first one: 

    chargeCard( %_billingInfo );
...
sub chargeCard {
  my %_billingInfo = @_;
  $_billingInfo{key}
}

    [download]
    but you'd probably be better of using a reference: 
    chargeCard( \%_billingInfo );
...
sub chargeCard {
  my $_billingInfo = shift;
  $_billingInfo->{key};
}

    [download]

    -derby

    update: Remove the whole passed by value/by ref. ikegami reminded me perl always passes by value and I was confusing *pass by reference* with *passing a reference.*

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Re: passing hash to subroutine
by ukndoit (Sexton) on Sep 14, 2007 at 23:51 UTC
    Ok, here is how I fixed it:
    my $_passThis;
foreach my $key (keys (%_billingInfo)) {
    $_passThis .= $key .'='. escapeHTML ($_billingInfo{$key}) . "^";
}
my $_cardCharged = chargeCard($_passThis);

# And at the subroutine I fixed it this way:
sub chargeCard {
    my $_passedList = shift;
    my @_PassedL = split (/\^/, $_passedList);
    my %_billingHash = ();
    foreach my $_k (@_PassedL) {
        ($_key,$_value) = split /\=/, $_k, 2;
        $_billingHash{"$_key"} = $_value;
    }

    [download]
    That worked! :o) Thank you guys for your advice of passing a list, just making 1 variable like a QUERY_STRING seperated instead of with a ^ instead of & because I might have a name of 'Rick & Chantelle' as a first name which would throw it off, so I used the ^ to seperate each.

    Thank you very much Richard
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